Brussels, 29/11/2010 (Agence Europe) - What are the priorities for 2011? The Committee of the Regions (CoR) wants the EU to give itself the means to address the crisis and move European integration forward. In this context, regional and local mayors and representatives are paying particular attention to the work programme to be set out in detail by the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, when addressing the CoR plenary session in Brussels on 1 December. EUROPE 2020, reform of cohesion policy and CAP, and budgetary negotiations are all areas for which CoR members expect the EU to be bold enough to support the efforts made far from Brussels by the regions and cities. Such is the message that they will adopt in their resolution on the CoR's political priorities for 2011. The resolution is to be adopted on Thursday 2 December by the plenary session.
Health Commissioner John Dalli will attend the CoR plenary on Thursday 2 December alongside the rapporteur, Adam Banaszak (UEN-EA, Poland), in a debate on the role of the local and regional authorities in implementation of the EU health strategy. The own-initiative opinion by Karl-Heinz Klär (PES, Germany) on what has been learnt from the financial crisis regarding financial oversight and public finance will be the subject of a highly controversial debate on Wednesday 1 December. (G.B./transl.jl)